You know, it’s just one of those days where the night before had no hours of sleep to give you… So, when you are at the point of being up for 24 hours, what do you do? The Maguuma Twerk. Let it blossom in your hearts.

This post contains minor spoilers to the story of Guild Wars 2, although, most people should know these facts already. Going through the to the next chapter in the History of Tyria we are going to start talking about the Forgotten, the Dwarves and the arrival of the human gods. That being said, the Bloostone plays a very important role regarding magic in the world of Tyria, and I think it’s time to put a clear stamp on some of the most confusing lore regarding Guild Wars.

A seer.

Magic has always existed in the world of Tyria. Since when the Giganticus Lupicus roamed the world, since before the first rise of the Elder Dragons. Magic exists in many forms; it’s known that old Canthan ritualists utilized magic different than that tied to the gods. The Forgotten also had magic of their own, it could not be corrupted by the elder dragons, and powerful enough to free Glaust from her masters grasp.

The elder races utilized magic and were free from the restrictions that the human gods had yet to put on it. When the elder dragons finally rose they consumed the world, and along with it, magic. Before the Elder Dragons had the opportunity to corrupt all the magic, the seers created the Bloodstone, a large stone they had forged, to store the untainted magic so it would not become corrupt. How they created the Bloodstone isn’t know. We don’t even know if the other races played a role in its creation (we know the mursaat didn’t because they fled and kept their magic before the elder dragons slumbered). The relation of the Bloodstone and what role it had, if any, with the elder dragons hibernating is also unknown.

The link between the Elder Dragons and magic is still very mysterious and is something we have yet to really delve into in Guild Wars 2. Eventually, and for unknown reasons, the dragons returned to their slumber. Primordus, the elder dragon residing in the depths of Tyria was known to bleed incredible amounts of magic; whether or not the other elder dragons did the same is unknown. When looking at the location of Orr, a place of immense magic, in which hidden beneath, the elder dragon Zhaitan was resting. He also seemed to bleed magic, giving Orr immense power.

After the dragons returned to hibernation, the races returned from their refuge. It was at this point that the Seers and the mursaat had their war, the jotun would rise to glory in the Age of Giants, the dwarves would forge their civilisation in the depths of the Shiverpeaks and the Forgotten would roam Tyria.

Magic stays static and untamed in the early history of Guild Wars, however, it gets really interesting with the arrival of the human gods. Humans, gods, dragons, mursaat and bloodstones will all play vital roles going through the story of Guild Wars and its ties with magic.

The complexities of magic in Tyria is hard to grasp and understand; its limits and origins are very unclear across the different magic types. I find its best that for now, to accept it exists and to not scrutinize it, yet. As for the bloodstones, they are suposed to play an important role continuing on into Guild Wars 2.

Sorry for my absence lately, I had my birthday recently and decided to take a week off to really delve into gaming. Also, please note that this post contains minor spoilers concerning the norn personal story as well as Arah explorable.

“Behold. At the height of our power, arrogance and jealousy led the jotun to civil war. Our blood is the blood of the mountains. In it, there is power. And so we fought…over blood itself. The giant-kings turned on each other. Brother murdered brother. Son murdered father. What we did not realize is that with each death, we weakend the very blood we sought to claim.”

– Elder Thruln

Elder Thruln, Giant King of the jotun.

The jotun are the last remnants of an ancient civilisation of giants. They were once a powerful, advanced and arrogant race who declared themselves the rulers of the Shiverpeak Mountains during the Age of Giants. It was during this age that they rose great monuments to themselves on the mountains peaks; great towers containing magics and lore. They were once peaceful and wise and were the protectors and guardians of all races lesser than them.

Being one of the elder races their age is unknown. They fought the dragons during their last rise and were saved by being stowed away by Glint. Having survived the previous rise of the Elder Dragons, and foretelling their coming through the mystic telescope, we only know that they are very old and can possibly date back to before the records of the first rising on Tyria.

The jotun are mentioned to be linked with the ogres genetically; how and why this is, or what role the ogres played in jotun history and through the Age of Giants is still unknown. That is if they even had a role at all… According to the Durmand Priory, as seen by the recovered jotun relics, the jotun were once an attractive race. They soon fell into disfigurement and ugliness throughout the fall of their civilisation, when inbreeding plagued their society.

Jotun concept art.

The jotun of old had no religion. They believe in themselves and their ancestors. Their blood was the most precious thing; in their blood was power, magic. It was what brought them divine powers, it’s what made them close to gods. Although the jotun of old had ties with the human gods of Tyria, who granted them magic and knowledge, they never worshipped them. Their society was led by their Giant-Kings, as well as their lore keepers, sages and mystics. The jotun leaders were powerful due to their feats of strength, magic, and lore. They were adepts in sorcery and natural philosophy.

We already covered what was the Age of Giants; a time where the giants races of Tyria ruled the world, and among them the jotun and the norn ruled the Shiverpeak Mountains. Through this we also saw a possible reason for their decline: when the gods stole magic from the jotuns. However, there is another story that is told of their decline, a story of a brutal blood feud sprung from pride and arrogance.

Thruln the Lost tell us the story of the jotun, who having had their magic stolen, lost everything, and in their confusion, lost their great civilisation. Now there is a second jotun who tells a story of their demise, Elder Thruln. Elder Thruln was once a Giant King of the jotun. Now as we can see, the two Thrulns share a name: this can either indicate that Thruln could be a title given to jotuns, implicating they are some type of lore master or story keeper of the jotun, or it could hold significance in lineage meaning that Elder Thruln and Thruln the Lost descend from their ancestor Thruln. It could simply be a name.

Elder Thruln as well as the Durmand Priory believe that the jotun, having become corrupted by pride and greed, sought to make their tribes superior. Through civil wars amongst the various tribes, as well as never marrying outside, their civilisation began to decline.

The jotun, once great and powerful, are now fragments of what they once were.

It goes as follows.

When the jotuns drove all their enemies from the Shiverpeaks and there was no one else to drive back, they suddenly became obsessed with their power. In the later years of their glory, blood feuds within their civilisation arose; a civil war sprung from pride and an obsession with continuing their superiority through their purity of blood. They wanted the lineage of their heroes, warlords and Giant Kings to grow stronger.

The civil war created rifts within jotun society having influenced marriages which soon led to inbreeding. They began to wipe out the “lesser” jotuns to acquire more territory, dismantling those tribes. It wasn’t soon after that that the Giant Kings turned against each other and began to fight for ultimate control.It was at this time where their great civilisation fell.

They became but echoes of the past.

Jotun concept art for Eye of the North.

Elder Thruln and Thruln the Lost both tell stories that can be very plausible. Perhaps even both events played a role in the demise of the jotun civilisation. One thing is for certain; with the exodus of the gods the Jotun regained their magical abilities, but due to their own arrogance and pride, they lost their lore keepers, sages and mystics. With them they lost the knowledge of magic they once held now secrets buried deep in the abyss.

The jotun we come across now are fragments of a once amazing race. They are merely savages striving to preserve only themselves. They are divided into tribes based on relation or alliances, holding strength and narcissism above all else. Their feuds followed along with their demise and they continue their attempts to extinguish lesser races, as well as their opposing clans.

Giant Kings are no longer. Their tribes are now lead by the strongest of the jotun. At the first sign of weakness their leader will be overthrown by another jotun claiming to have the strength to succeed where the later has fallen. They are very savage about their hierarchy and do not think about the consequences before they commit to action, very much unlike the charr. Their abilities in brute force and arms are reassuring to their tribe that they are fit to lead.

The jotun are now very territorial. The jotun woman and children are the most prized possessions of their society; they are the key to strong lineage and the continuation of their tribe. They are never seen and always hidden in an effort to preserve their safety. Because of this, anyone who comes across jotun territory will be met with only violence.

The males are the proactive ones in society: hunting food to bring to their child-bearers and children, hunting the lesser races that they come across as well as opposing tribes who infringe on their territory. Any attempts at peace with them is futile: they lie as well as break treaties and oaths if it will not empower them. For them to hold true to their word they must have a clear benefit in the long term.

A jotun depiction, found in the story of Mr Sparkles, a tale of the asura.

The jotun of this age have no true religion. They take the legends of their past to a religious level and worship their ancient heroes and ancestors. Some choose to simply worship themselves. They hold deep reverence for their ancestral homelands and ruins in which they live, adding to their territorial nature. Some jotun worship the elder dragon Jormag believing he will grant them the power to reclaim what they once were.

When coming across a jotun I can’t help but feel bad. They once held amazing power, and it’s sad to see what they’ve become. They are a true testament to what happens when we don’t resolve our internal conflicts. Throughout Guild Wars 2, I wouldn’t doubt seeing more revealed on this race, especially through the history of the norn. Their magics and great buildings will continue to play a major role throughout Guild Wars, and it’s exciting to think of the possibilites in their secrets that lay lost through the Shiverpeaks.

“It was a time when the norn and the jotun were not like you see us today. Our kingdoms were the most advanced in the entire world. We protected and defended other races.”

– Thruln the Lost

The Age of Giants is another vague and questionable period of time in the early history of Guild Wars. Only the jotun stelae and the dwarven legends remain as records of these ancient times in Tyria. It was a time when the giant races of Tyria ruled over the land, and the Jotun and Norn ruled the Shiverpeak Mountains. The Elder Dragons, having now begun their slumber, posed no threat to Tyria allowing the giant races to flourish.

Thruln the Lost at the Great Lodge.

Currently there exists a jotun storyteller in the Great Lodge who tells tales of this age, striving to remind the people of who the jotun once were, of the power and advancements they wielded. Although he may not be credible as he is quick to point blame and sounding overdramatic, he is surely passionate, and longs to speak of his ancestors past to anyone willing to listen. His name is Thruln the Lost.

Thruln the Lost speaks of the age when the giants ruled Tyria, and the jotun were superior to all races. Although he shows much pride in his tales of the jotun he doesn’t leave out the presence of the norn through this age. The other giant races throughout Tyria also had great power, ruling lands of their own. With the Elder Dragons hibernating, the races rebuilt; the jotuns built great kingdoms, some of the most advanced in the world.

Going off what Thruln the Lost speaks of, the Age of Giants existed some where after the Elder Dragons retreated to their sleep until sometime after the human gods arrived on Tyria. Although it is unknown when the dragons ended their reign of destruction on the world, we can speculate that the Age of Giants existed from the end of the dragons destruction until sometime before 1 BE, when the gods gifted the humans with magic.

Thruln the Lost speaks of the arrival of the humans and their origins, however that is a story for another time. When the human gods came to Tyria, they favoured the jotun and gifted them with magics and knowledge of mechanical and magical technologies. Thruln the Lost explains that the jotun were soon gaining on the gods in their power, causing the gods to threaten to take magic away from them entirely, fearing they would use it against them. This caused confusion and the beginnings of civil war among the jotuns.

Soon the humans, who the gods once did not care about due to their primitivity, noticed their rise of intelligence and the beginnings of a great culture. Unhappy with the civil break outs of the jotun, they took magic from them when they filtered it, giving it to their favoured races. Although there exists other theories for the decline of the jotuns civilisation other than that of the stories offered by Thruln the Lost, the Age of Giants ended when the gods took magic from them.

The jotun, having their magic stolen, lost everything. In their confusion at the betrayal of

Statues of the Norns Spirits of the Wild, found at the entrance of Hoelbrak.

the gods, they lost hope of being the great culture that they once were. The norn however, turned to their Spirits of the Wild, admittedly preserving their future as a great race.

Early history, nor Thruln the Lost, shows what happened to the other ruling races during the Age of Giants. Their reign could have also ended by being unfavored by the human gods and having magic taken from them.

If we have the chance to encounter more information about the Age of Giants throughout Guild Wars 2, or more notably, the jotuns and the power they once wielded, don’t doubt seeing many great revelations of some intricate mysteries woven into the story of Guild Wars.

At some point in time, still unclear in history but around when the Great Dwarf wrote the famed Tome of Rubicon, a war was waging.

Having betrayed the elder races during the last rise of the Elder Dragons, fleeing and leaving them to their end, the mursaat returned.

A version of the Tome of the Rubicon, obtainable in Guild Wars 2 through the Mystic Forge.

How they returned, when they returned, or why they returned is still unknown. This was is of the vaguest topics in the history of Guild Wars. Information is hard to come by and it is often modified with speculations. However one thing is for certain; the mursaat and the Seer fought.

The true cause of the war is still very much a mystery, but it is not out of place to claim that the war between the mursaat and the Seer was caused by the betrayal. When the Mursaat betrayed the elder races during the awakening of the Elder Dragons, fleeing using their phasing magic, they left the other races to their doom. Why?

Perhaps it was arrogance. Perhaps they felt superior than the other races and wished them eradicated? Perhaps they thought themselves as the current pinnacle of power having the abilities to flee from the Elder Dragons destruction and the other lesser races were nothing but beings to be consumed by the Elder Dragons. The fact that the mursaat fled the war can give insight to this, and for now it is the only speculation Tyrian historians have to explain the war.

As for the Seers… Why did they fight? Perhaps it was retaliation? Maybe it was to bring justice for their betrayal? Did the Seers always consider the mursaat enemies? Perhaps the Seers knew through the manner in which the mursaat represented themselves that a feud would one day come, and this was the breaking point to begin the war?

Guild Wars 1 concept art for the Mursaat.

Again, we cannot say.

It’s uncertain how long the war lasted, but what can be told is how it ended. The mursaat possessed their destructive magic known as Spectral Agony which would obliterate their enemies in a single, terrible blow. As was the fate of many brave heroes of Tyria during the fulfilment of the Flameseeker Prophecies. The Seers were able to develop a defence to their magic, however it came to late.

The Seers were defeated, almost eradicated from existence on Tyria. Though their ancient relics and remnants of a once great civilisation stand testament to the power and legacy they wielded, they were lost having endured the havocs of time. Heroes of new and old have visited their ruins, unsuspecting of the antiquities they have crossed.

This war leaves many questions of this vague point in history. How did the mursaat posses such immense power? Why were the Seers not able develop their defence against Spectral Agony in time to preserve themselves? What were the other elder races doing during this war?

The history of the mursaat and the Seer can hold the deepest secrets and answers in the lore of Guild Wars. We shall see if they are built upon in Guild Wars 2.

Fan representation of the Seers. Credit for this amazing art can go to Gannadene at deviantart.com.

“Before there were humans or dwarves, before there
were even worlds or the stars that light the night sky,
there was but one thing in the universe—the Mists.”

– The Guild Wars Manuscripts

The Mists are a representation of the fabric of space and time that connects all the multiverses together. The Mists itself is a vast expanse of, ironically, mist. It holds islands within which have their own history, reflections of the worlds they represent. You can compare these islands to mirrors, they mirror the worlds around them, forming their own image from those realities. The Mists touches all things and are what binds worlds together; their past, present and future are held within the Mists. It is the building blocks of reality, holding within the balance of life by being the source of all good and evil, all matter and knowledge, and holding immense amount of power.

Concept art for Fractals of the Mists. A good visual example of what the Mists look like.

The Mists is the oldest thing in existence, it predates Tyria itself. In fact the Guild Wars Manuscripts states that all forms of life can trace their beginnings to the Mists, meaning that the Gods, the Elder Dragons, and anything else you can think of could have been created by the Mists. Although it is likely that Tyria itself is created from the Mists as the Mists is known for creating worlds, the question of how this is done is still a mystery. What we do know is that the protomater that is comprised of the Mists constantly strives towards creation, often creating demons of failed creation. However when the Mists finds a suitable template, it can create something from that form, and what is spawned will hold similar traits to what was copied. There is definitely a pattern in the Mists; it creates in the image of something else. The extent of the creative capabilities of the Mists are still a mystery, but it begs to question where the Mists got their suitable templates to create the worlds and creatures to begin with if it is the oldest thing in existance.

The Mists is home to the the human Gods and other various beings of power. It holds the domain of each human God, their own realm which they represent. It is also home to the various afterlives. Through the Mists you can travel across the Universe, meaning it is in fact different from the Universe. It is essentially in the world of Guild Wars the answers to all the questions we struggle to find an answer for today concerning existence, meaning of life and death, connecting all those things in one nice package.

Map of the Mists in GW2, where WvW (Mists War) is held.

Currently the Mists hosts the Battle of the Mists, or the Mists War, where the races fight for glory in an eternal tournament. In the center of the Mists lies the Rift. The Rift is the center of the balance in the Universe, it is a tear in the fabric of the cosmos where time doesn’t flow. It is the center of everything and passage to everywhere; it connects to all things. Deep within the Rift is the Hall of Heroes, the pinnacle of the afterlife. Once inaccessible to the mortal world, this all changed with the follies of Lord Odran, and the mortals fought for honor on their quest to reach the Hall of Heroes.

The Mists are still shrouded in deep mysteries. They have many answers, but hold more questions. What ultimate link they have to Tyria, the Gods and the Elder Dragons may never be answered.

Guild Wars 1 art for the Hall of Heroes, deep within the Mists in the Rift.

These iconic words were the first we heard upon playing our characters all those years ago. We discovered Ascalon, the beauty of the world, and we all fell in love with the continent of Tyria.

The Maps from Guild Wars 1, connected to show where the continents lay.

However, Tyria is also the name of the planet. Assuming that the world of Guild Wars respects current astrophysics we can maybe place it’s origin through scientific means. Tyria does have a moon, it has a sun, and it most definitely belongs to a solar system in a galaxy… But this is Guild Wars, it must be more complicated than that?

Well it is.

We know that the world is a planet like any other, much like our own Earth. However, Tyria is connected to a multiverse, spanning across many worlds, realities, and dimensions through something called the Mists. Through the Mists we are able to travel to these worlds; the human gods used the Mists to shepherd humanity to Tyria. This proves the multiverse does contain other worlds, and consequently, making humans aliens to Tyria. Whether Tyria is the first world created for this multiverse is still unknown.

Tyria has 3 known continents: Tyria, Cantha and Elona. Cantha is cut off from the rest of the world through the Elder Dragons and their own seclusion, and Elona is currently under the rule of Palawa Joko. Nevertheless these continents still exist in present day.

There are also unnamed continents that can be found on a world map on the globe in the Chantry of Secrets. These continents are still a mystery to the world, as well as the races that may live on them.

The map of the world of Tyria, as seen on the globe in the Chantry of Secrets. This map has severe lore scrutiny as having missing elements and confusing sections.

Now to the most interesting bit of Tyria: it’s age. Known history can point to Tyria being more than 11,000 years old, dating back to 11,000 BE. We know this was when the True Giants roamed the world, as well as the elder races. But how far can we date Tyrias origin? For this let’s look at one of the elder races: the Jotun.

The Jotun were renown for their great lore keeping and extensive knowledge on stargazing and the world of Tyria. Through their stargazing, the Jotun found that the Elder Dragons have a connection to the stars. When the Elder Dragons were meant to awaken new constellations would form acting as a herald to the forthcoming destruction.

This is very interesting, showing that not only does Tyria and the Elder Dragons have a greater connection to the multiverse, but that for the Jotuns to understand and see this cycle, they would have to see the rise of the Elder Dragons more than once in history. This can give Tyria an age of more than 20,000 years ago as well as the Jotun, depending on when exactly the Elder Dragons awaken in their cycle.

Dragon constellation as seen by the Jotun.

This is purely speculations based on history, but it raises many questions: how old is Tyria? How old are the Elder Dragons? What role do these play in the grand multiverse? But more importantly what secrets does Tyria hold?